Choose one of the following prompts as a focus for
your essay.In your prewriting, jot down
a working thesis, prospective topic sentences, and passages from the text that
you think you may use in the rough draft.I will NOT ACCEPT or grade a final draft that does not include ALLof the elements of the prewriting work
as well as your rough draft with peer edits.

Remember that your claims and minor claims come from
essential questions about character development, theme, symbolism,
point-of-view, conflict, flashback, irony, and so on.You may also refer to the story’s exposition,
rising action, crisis, falling action, and dénouement: “In the story’s crisis…”
or “The dénouement denies a complete resolution…”Make time for proofing, editing, and
rewriting.As always, your language
should be clear, grammatical, and formal, though not pompous, convoluted, or
wordy.

Basic Requirements: at least four pages (no more
than six), one inch margins, 12 pt Times New Roman, MLA formatting, citation, and
documentation. Include prewriting (as listed above), rough drafts with peer
edits, and a final draft.Place all of
your work in a flat, no-ring folder.

“Brownies”

1.Explore
the story’s theme of parroting or echoing.How do both sets of brownies echo the world around them?In what ways do some individuals in Laurel’s
troop and Troop 909 break from mindless echoing and repetition?How does ZZ Packer tie the theme of
prejudice and reprisal with the black girls’ discovery of the white troops’
special needs?

2.As
a coming of age story, “Brownies” presents a significant shift in Laurel’s
worldview—from unaware and innocent to sensitive and thoughtful.What does Laurel discover about herself, her
family, friends, etc.?How do Laurel’s
father and Daphne’s father (from her poem) exert vastly different influences on
their daughters?

3.What’s
in a name?If Arnetta means “eagle ruler” and Octavia
summons Octavius, the Roman ruler and father of emperors, how does Packer model
these meanings in her characters? Also, recall
the Greek myth of Daphne and Laurel.How
do Daphne and Laurel in “Brownies” reenact the trope of shape-shifting? Finally, what does the story’s use of naming
suggest about power, leadership, and transformation?

“The
Ant of the Self”

1.Discuss
Packer’s pairing of a broken father-son relationship with the wider discord resounding
within the black community.Explain how
the phrase “ant of the self” applies to the Marchers who accost Spurgeon as
well as to Ray and Spurgeon?To whom
else in the story does it apply?How
does the March in D.C. inform and shape Spurgeon’s life journey—before and especially
after the March?

2.Examine
Packer’s presentation of the father-son relationship in the story.In what ways does the narrative indict Ray
and Spurgeon for their contribution to their alienation, and how does the story
reveal an Oedipal struggle for dominance?How does Spurgeon’s sighting of the father and son at the Amtrak station
compare with his relationship with his father?

3.Like
Odysseus or the Red Cross Knight, the quest hero embarks on a series of tropes,
including his call to adventure, his initial refusal, his holding to a strict honor
code, meeting friends and enemies, overcoming tests and ordeals, gaining reward
and insight, and his return home.How
does Spurgeon’s quest/journey retain some of these tropes while altering others?More importantly, what does the story’s break
from tradition signal about its hero and possibly the vision of the author?

“Drinking
Coffee Elsewhere”

1.Discuss
how Dina’s antisocial attitude and behavior stem in part from her racial,
economic, and possibly sexual otherness.In other words, show how her Otherness at Yale and in Baltimore
aggravate her antisocial behavior? Draw
connections between Dina’s difficulty in finding a stable identity and society’s
alienation of the Other.

2.Packer
fuses Dina’s erratic point-of-view with indeterminate places in the text,
moments without fixed meaning or definite resolution.Look at specific passages that show these
indeterminacies and relate them to Dina’s perspective and her inability to cope
with demanding or traumatic situations.What meanings can we make from these instances where the story refuses
to surrender its secrets?

3.If
you read Dina as self-loathing and sexually closeted, locate scenes and passages
in the story that support such notions.You would do well to point to passages that demonstrate both a psychological
and literal closet.Most importantly,
explain how Dina’s racial otherness, poverty, and home-life all factor in the
formation of her closet and inability to accept her sexuality.

“Doris Is Coming”

1.Trace
the trajectory of Doris’s coming of age.How does she transition from lacking awareness and confidence to gaining
strengths in these areas?Who initiates Doris’s turn toward
maturity?Who or what opposes her growth
and budding confidence, and who nourishes her development?Explain how these characters impact Dina.Examine how and why political activism signifies
her leap forward into personal independence.

2.Explain
how the story’s three prominent outcasts—Doris, Mr. Stutz, and Olivia/Livia—are
connected through their marginal status.Also look closely at what keeps these marginal figures from forming a
fuller relationship with each other.For
example, what draws Dina away from Mr. Stutz, from Livia, and what attracts her
to these outsiders?How do Mr. Stutz and
Olivia encourage and enable Doris?

3.Explore
Packer’s melding of the Christian Rapture and the Civil Rights Movement.Note key passages in the story where these
two events merge and analyze Doris’s individual conflict when this convergence
happens.How does the story’s last
paragraph telegraph this twinning of the two events?Between the Rapture and the Movement, where
does Packer place her sympathy in her depiction of Doris’s search for change?

Comparative Studies

1.“Brownies,”
“The Ant of the Self,” and “Doris Is Coming” all contain coming of age experiences.Choose two
stories from these three and compare the processes by which the main
characters transition toward awareness.What is most similar about their development, about their character
flaws, and about their instances of awareness or discovery?What is important about how they differ?

2.Much
of the literature in Drinking Coffee
Elsewhere concerns the placement of Others or outsiders in an unfamiliar or
antagonistic mainstream.“Brownies,”
“Doris Is Coming,” and the collection’s title story provide three
examples.Choose two stories from this list and examine how the main characters
similarly negotiate their own difference or that of other characters.Create a tightly focused argument that
specifies how Otherness figures in your analysis.